Republicans vs. a Biden Presidency

[lpetrich]

Opinion | How Republicans will try to destroy a Biden presidency - The Washington Post

The short version: A Senate GOP strategist privately confided to Bloomberg that a key Republican goal right now is to lay the groundwork to revert hard to austerity, should Biden prevail, crippling the possibility of any serious stimulus efforts next year, even amid continued economic misery.

As of now, Senate Republicans are hostile to supporting a deal even if the White House and House Democrats can reach one. The White House’s $1.8 trillion offer includes some things Democrats want, such as $1,200 checks to individuals, but Pelosi wants more money for aid to states and a national strategy against the novel coronavirus, among other things.

Senate Republicans may not even accept spending levels that the White House is proposing. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is planning a vote on a far smaller package — $500 billion for extended assistance for the unemployed and small businesses, among other things.

As to why the Senate Republicans are willing to defy President Trump on this issue,

A GOP strategist who has been consulting with Senate campaigns said Republicans have been carefully laying the groundwork to restrain a Biden administration on federal spending and the budget deficit by talking up concerns about the price tag for another round of virus relief. The thinking, the strategist said, is that it would be very hard politically to agree on spending trillions more now and then in January suddenly embrace fiscal restraint.

So they plan to do what they did during the Clinton and Obama Presidencies. Screech long and loud about how horrible deficit spending is, even when they were completely OK with it during the Reagan, Bush I, Bush II, and Trump administrations.

And so, when McConnell chortled with glee at this week’s debate in Kentucky about the failure to pass more aid at a desperate national moment, it telegraphed what’s coming. And we’ve already lived through what happened when Republicans, led by McConnell, tried to cripple the recovery from a previous economic calamity that a Democratic president inherited from a Republican one.

Back then, McConnell calculated that if Republicans adopted a strategy of openly tailoring everything around the overarching goal of denying Barack Obama bipartisan support, Obama would take the blame for it. It’s likely McConnell is already thinking the same.

 

[LoAmmo]

I realize that the entirety of that message is very nuanced, very impactful, and very alarming--but I can't help but feel some joy at the implicit premise behind it--the GOP knows Trump is going to lose. That's my silver lining.

 

[ZiprHead]

The two santa claus theory in action again.

 

[laughing dog]

The Senate Republicans are not uniform on what they mean by "fiscal restraint". Playing hardball while many people/voters are having a hard time will negatively affect Republican Senators going up for re-election in 2020. And, if the Republicans lose their majority or even some seats in the Senate, that OP strategy may be revised a bit.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

It goes without saying just how much GOP propaganda and obstructionism we will have under a Biden presidency. Fiscal obstructionism is only a small part of it.

 

[SLD]

That’s why at this point, I actually prefer for the Dems to win the Senate in 2020 and let Trump continue to fuck up as President. Then in 2022, the Dems increase their seats, and again in 2024, and they take the White House - possibly for years to come.

 

[LoAmmo]

It goes without saying just how much GOP propaganda and obstructionism we will have under a Biden presidency. Fiscal obstructionism is only a small part of it.

It was of tragic, epic proportions during Obama's administrations, and realistically would only be WORSE now, if Biden wins.

(To that end, I hope that if Biden ends up tweaking health care, it doesn't get branded as "BidenCare." The instant the ACA was dubbed "Obamacare," it had a giant, permanent lightning rod attached to it.)
Call it, I dunno, "PatriotCare," or, "FreedomCare," and let's see Sean Hannity deride it then!

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

If Biden wins and the GOP loses control of the Senate, rank obstructionism of the GOP is going to be a problem in 2022, the off year election. It is a kamakazi plan for the GOP. and there might be problems for any GOP Senator who wants to run in 2024 for President. Romney and Cruz for example. If the Democrats retake the Senate, and if the GOP resorts to rank obstructionism, there will be resorts to nuclear options and steam rolling the GOP. It will be bad cop, good cop. Schumer the bad cop, Biden the good cop. Cooperate or else.

It is going to be an interesting two years.

 

[Jarhyn]

If Biden wins and the GOP loses control of the Senate, rank obstructionism of the GOP is going to be a problem in 2022, the off year election. It is a kamakazi plan for the GOP. and there might be problems for any GOP Senator who wants to run in 2024 for President. Romney and Cruz for example. If the Democrats retake the Senate, and if the GOP resorts to rank obstructionism, there will be resorts to nuclear options and steam rolling the GOP. It will be bad cop, good cop. Schumer the bad cop, Biden the good cop. Cooperate or else.

It is going to be an interesting two years.

This is why we have to focus hard on 2022. It's honestly more important than this year, and this year is absolutely important.

Another thing that needs to be resisted is the tendency for the legislature, when they have the full run of the roost, to do nothing but talk about a single piece of "big" legislation.

Even when the Dems had the whole government for 2 years, they blithely did nothing but talk about the ACA. Yes, it was big legislation, but they let it dominate 100% of the floor, for 2 years, amid numerous other important bills that languished. Numerous important issues like weed, financial regulation, environmental action, jobs programs, all of it just got a massive shrug while the Dems twiddled their asses with a healthcare act that was doomed all along to be destroyed as it has been, and worse now given a stacked court.

 

[Treedbear]

The ACA is here to stay. It turns out that it works fine without the mandate. The mandate was only a temporary expedient necessary to get the insurance companies to buy-in.

 

[Swammerdami]

...
Even when the Dems had the whole government for 2 years, ...

I assume your point is that 51 Senators could have changed the filibuster cloture rule.

Let's hope the D's have now learned that lesson.

 

[Rhea]

Even when the Dems had the whole government for 2 years,

People keep saying this, but please note: between the late seating of Franken and the early death of Kennedy, they only had the senate at 60 votes for four months.

GOP tries to make you think we had two years and were failures. We had only four months with “total control.” That’s it. Outside of that window, Dems did not have a filibuster-proof majority.

https://www.beaconjournal.com/article/20120909/NEWS/309099447
Article describes the exact timeline.

 

[southernhybrid]

Right now, it looks like the Democrats will take back the Senate. Of course, the Republicans will do nothing but obstruct if they continue to control the Senate. Tell me something I don't already know.

 

[lpetrich]

Republicans ready to become deficit hawks again under a President Biden | TheHill

Republicans are preparing to reembrace their inner deficit hawks after greenlighting big spending bills under President Trump.

GOP senators say they expect to refocus on curbing the nation’s debt and reforming entitlement programs starting in 2021, as the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the debt has surpassed the size of the American economy.

“I think that’s kind of getting back to our DNA. ... I think spending, entitlement reform, growth and the economy are all things that we’re going to have to be focused on next year, and, yeah, I would expect you’ll hear a lot more about that,” said Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the No. 2 Senate Republican.

Which confirms my OP.

 

[Elixir]

Right now, it looks like the Democrats will take back the Senate. Of course, the Republicans will do nothing but obstruct if they continue to control the Senate. Tell me something I don't already know.

I am mystified ... it looks to me like both Perdue and Loeffler are going to win. But you are on the ground there and I am not. So please elaborate!

 

[jonatha]

Right now, it looks like the Democrats will take back the Senate. Of course, the Republicans will do nothing but obstruct if they continue to control the Senate. Tell me something I don't already know.

I am mystified ... it looks to me like both Perdue and Loeffler are going to win. But you are on the ground there and I am not. So please elaborate!

Her post was from mid October...

 

[Elixir]

Right now, it looks like the Democrats will take back the Senate. Of course, the Republicans will do nothing but obstruct if they continue to control the Senate. Tell me something I don't already know.

I am mystified ... it looks to me like both Perdue and Loeffler are going to win. But you are on the ground there and I am not. So please elaborate!

Her post was from mid October...

Mea Culpa. Thanks!

 

[ZiprHead]

Looks like Trump won't be able to comment on Twitter.

Twitter Confirms Trump Could Be Banned After Inauguration Day For Repeated Violations

Warning labels and fact checks have not stopped President Trump from continuing to spread conspiracy theories and use violent rhetoric on Twitter, but after Inauguration Day, those kinds of tweets could land the outgoing president in hot water, and eventually cause him to be banned by the platform, a Twitter spokesperson told Forbes Thursday.

Off to Parler he goes.